Tibetan and Himalayan Library - THL

Location and Layout

A view of Drakri Hermitage (Drakri Ritröbrag ri ri khrod) from
below.

The word drakribrag ri means “crag”
or “gorge.” As is the case with many hermitages (ritröri khrod),
it is difficult to know whether the site got its name from the lamabla ma who founded it, or whether the
founding lamabla ma got his
name from the site that he used for retreat. The lamabla ma incarnation lineage that owned this hermitage is also (perhaps even more
commonly) known as BariSba ri rather than DrakriBrag ri, and even the
hermitage often goes by the name
of Bari
Hermitage (Bari Ritrösba ri ri khrod).1

The monastery lies about three kilometers north and slightly east of downtown
LhasaLha sa on
the side of a mountain above the southernmost section of the suburb
of NyangdrenNyang bran. DrakriBrag ri is therefore the closest to downtown LhasaLha sa of all of
SeraSe ra’s hermitages.

As one begins to walk up the hill on the path to the hermitage from the residential portion of
NyangdrenNyang bran, one first encounters several large boulders with images of Guru RinpochéGu ru rin po che (eighth century) and other NyingmaRnying ma deities painted on their surface. Because
the monastery became a NyingmaRnying ma
hermitage only since its renovation
in the 1990s, these rock-paintings are almost certainly of recent provenance.

The courtyard of the main temple compound. The temple is on the right, and
the kitchen on the left.

The hermitage itself consists of
five major sections:

The main temple compound contained several buildings, all around
a central courtyard: the temple, a kitchen, a
wing of monks’ living quarters. It also contains a large mani wheel (mani khorloma ṇi ’khor lo). This entire
compound has been renovated, although the present buildings have fewer stories
than did the original ones.

A large complex built in terraced fashion located just below
(south of) the main temple compound. Before 1959 this tiered complex contained
stables (at its lowest portion), and work/meeting rooms and the living quarters of
the workers and business managers of the Drakri Lama’s estate (Drakri Labrangbrag ri bla brang) on
the upper tiers. This entire complex is in ruins today.

A building that before 1959 served as the living quarters for
the eight fully ordained monks who formed the ritual core of the monastic
community. It lies southwest of the temple complex. Today, only the foundations of
this building remain.

The four tantric priests (ngakpasngags pa) that reside at DrakriBrag ri
live in the residential portion of the main temple compound. The two nuns live in
huts to the southeast and southwest of the main compound.

[1] The Extensive Explanation of the World (Dzamling Gyeshé’Dzam gling rgyas bshad) mentions two Drakri
hermitages. One it calls “new” (sargsar), and the
other “old” (nyingrnying); see Turrell Wylie, The Geography of
Tibet According to the ’Dzam-gling-rgyas-bshad
(Rome: IsMEO, 1962),
83.